Chapter 195: 195
“You said someone intruded into your place last night . What did you mean by that?”
Vincent was sitting across Zhang Heng, and seemed to be very uncomfortable and nervous .
“To be honest, I don’t know what happened as well . I slept early last night, and I was half-asleep when I woke up in the middle of the night all of a sudden . I saw that the windows were open, and a shadowy figure was standing beside it . His back faced me, and it appeared that he was searching for something in my drawer . ”
“What made you think that he was looking for something?” asked Zhang Heng while pointing at the poetry book that he found on the carrack .
“That’s because he turned my bedroom upside down! Strangely, he didn’t lay a finger on the 33 gold coins that I hid inside my drawer . There was some change on the table as well, and the amount was intact when I checked on them . All he took were the supply records and the list of goods that we acquired from the carrack . As for this poetry book, I placed it under my pillow, so it was untouched . ”
“Hang on . Now, why would you place a poetry book under your pillow?” asked Anne with a cocked eyebrow .
The young doctor’s face begun to flush, and he was left speechless . Zhang Heng could feel how embarrassed and awkward he became, and hence, quickly changed the topic .
“Did you manage to see his face?”
“I’m sure he’s not human . His shirt was wet, looking as if he just emerged from the sea . I could smell an overpowering stench of fish and a saltiness in the air when he was in my room . Water dripped down from his sleeves and pants . Apart from that, I noticed corals and seashells hanging on his shirt and hair . ”
Vincent trembled in fear as he tried to remember the details of what happened last night .
“I remember that I pretended to sleep . Out of curiosity, I cracked open my eyes . That was when I saw his hand and the side of his face . It was covered in scales! Then, he somehow discovered that I was peeking at him, and he turned around and smiled . I was so terrified that I fainted! It was early in the morning when I opened up my eyes again . Immediately, I ran outside the house . ”
Once Vincent was done talking, he took out three notebooks .
“I am almost done translating these three notebooks . I didn’t manage to translate the last few pages of the supply records, though . I would like to apologize for not being able to protect them . ”
“It’s fine . You have done a good job . Thank you so much for your service . I have another favor to ask of you . Would you mind if I took a look around your place?”
“Of course not! Both of you are always welcome at my house . ”
After that, Zhang Heng and Anne followed Vincent back to where he stayed . He lived in a small wooden house, large enough for a single person . There were various types of plants around his home . Amongst them were rare species of plants that only grew on the island of Nassau . Zhang Heng remembered Billy saying that Vincent fancied botany when they were introduced to each other . His house was covered in lush vines and looked gorgeous from the outside . Billy lived right next to Vincent, as well .
During that time, Billy was holding his two-year-old daughter and was taking a slow walk in his garden . He quickly waved he saw the three . Passing his daughter to his wife, he strolled towards them .
“You guys are here for the bizarre incident, right?” asked Billy .
“Can you give me a moment?”
Vincent opened the door and looked at Anne in an embarrassed manner .
“This is your house . You can do whatever you want to,” said Zhang Heng .
Vincent was grateful that Zhang Heng allowed him to do as he wished . Immediately, he ran into his house and closed the door after him as fast as he could . Soon, they heard a curious clanking coming from inside the house .
While Vincent was at it, Zhang Heng took the opportunity to ask Billy some questions .
“Did you notice anything strange last night considering you live right next to him?”
“I fell asleep immediately when I returned home last night . This morning, he knocked at my door in his pajamas and told me what happened to him last night . I could see that he was scared to death . It was my first time seeing him so afraid . ”
“Do you think this incident has something to do with the mysterious ship that we found?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure . ”
Zhang Heng suddenly remembered that a bizarre storm hit them when they were returning to Nassau . Every unexplainable thing that occurred to them indicated that they had indeed encountered something supernatural . It seemed the owner of the carrack was trying to retrieve the items that belonged to him . Still, Zhang Heng felt that things didn’t quite add up, which was why he wanted to check out Vincent’s house .
After a while, Vincent opened the door and invited the three of them to come in . He had hurriedly tidied up his messy place when he entered earlier and had even made a pot of tea for them . However, Zhang Heng wasn’t interested to have any tea .
The first thing the three did was to check out Vincent’s bedroom . Upon entering, they saw a series of herbariums and sketches on the wall . They also noticed shoes and clothes scattered all over the floor . Vincent became embarrassed when he saw that the three were looking around his messy room . He had no time to tidy it up after cleaning the common area . As a single man, though, his room’s condition was actually not too bad . Zhang Heng had seen way worse than this when he was in his hostel .
Ignoring the unkempt mess, Zhang Heng squatted and used his finger to touch the floor . There were a few wet spots, and it seemed that the mysterious person must have been standing there for some time . The wet spots led to where the drawer and bed were .
Besides that, he also picked up two pieces of small seashells and a scale on the floor . The story that Vincent told them must be true . As for the fishy stench that he mentioned, it was gone, perhaps because the windows were open . After that, Zhang Heng walked towards the window . This was the spot where the mysterious man apparently entered and left the room . There were supposed to be two potted plants placed on the window sill, but one of them had been knocked down . Outside of the window, Vincent’s small garden could be seen .
“May I?”
Zhang Heng glanced at a nodding Vincent before climbing on the window sill and jumping into the garden .
“How often do you water your plants?” asked Zhang Heng after he deliberately stepped on the soil twice .
“Erm . Once a week . I usually ask for Netti’s help to water my plants when I go on a voyage . It should have been five days since she last watered them . ”
Netti was Billy’s wife . She helped Vincent a lot after he moved into the neighborhood, a reason why Vincent was willing to become a doctor on the Jackdaw after Billy persuaded him . Zhang Heng then walked around the garden and saw that there were a few houses around . So, he proceeded to visit them one by one with Anne . Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to acquire any useful information from the residents . It was late at night when the mysterious thing broke into Vincent’s house . Hence, there were no witnesses .
That afternoon, all of them stopped at Billy’s house for lunch . Vincent was still shaken by last night’s bizarre incident . He was extremely grateful after getting Billy’s permission to stay at his house for a couple of days; his spirits slightly lifted .
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